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Usually our holiday menus consist of the following..........

Thanksgiving:

Roasted Turkey
Cranberry Sauce (both jellied & whole berry)
Sage Stuffing Casserole (I never stuff the bird, always do it as a side dish)
Mashed Potatoes & gravy
Candied Sweet Potatoes (not yams)
Corn
Green Salad (maybe/maybe not)
Dinner Rolls
Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream
plus at least one other type of pie-sometimes more. Chocolate Cream, Banana Cream, Butterscotch, Apple or Cherry


Christmas-usually includes anything BUT turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. The rest of the side dishes & pies are pretty standard. This year I'm hoping I can find a good, cheap Prime Rib Roast, preferably with the bones If not, then I'll stick with Ham & baked beans. One year (a long time ago) we did have a real Christmas Goose. Meh, it wasn't bad but I'm not overly fond of it.

And for New Year's.....well Ham if we didn't have it for Christmas or All Day Snackstuffs, kinda like a tailgate party with wings, meatballs or smokies in BBQ sauce, sliced meat & cheese plate with bread &/or crackers to make your own sandwich's, fruit & veggie plate, and another with pickles, olives, devilish eggs, etc. Or if I'm too tired or did have too heavy of workload, it's just a clean out the fridge kinda meal.

Christmas Eve dinner will be fried abalone, salmon steaks, steamed carrots, chard and baked potatoes, I think. :D I just went and bought the salmon, and I've cleaned and sliced the abalone. It just needs pounding, then I intend to dip it in flour, egg, and lemon pepper bread crumbs. (Yes, I'm breaking my diet rules, but it's the holidays. :P)

I have it to do today. I need to make and bake the pumpkin pudding, gingerbread cookies, and the potatoes too. I also need to prep the duck for roasting tomorrow.

3 deep fried turkeys, 1 brown sugar glazed ham, yams, deviled eggs, greens, and tons of pies and pastries. Candies and cookies for the grand kids. Lots of leftover for the freezer. Shot a feral hog Sunday night so maybe some ribs also. 7 adults and 7 grand kids will pretty much put a hurting on a Christmas dinner table.

We are having turkey and dressing, Brussels sprouts, and apple crisp for dessert. I am not sure of the rest of the menu. I will just wait and see what sounds good to us.

On Sunday, we invited a single friend over for a Christmas dinner. We had ham, baked sweet potatoes, corn pudding, and green bean casserole. I had splurged and bought some crescent rolls, but forgot to make them.

I have discovered that the sweets I love at this time are causing anxiety. I don't normally have a craving for sweet treats, but at this time of year I like my German stollen and cookies and I can get them all at Cost Plus and other places. I get tempted and then I pay the price with a sleepless night filled with anxiety. It just isn't worth it. So I am trying to come up with alternatives. Tonight I made chocolate meringues. I put a dent in the middle and filled them with peanut butter. I used minimal sugar and they Have no flour. I also fixed myself some lovely eggnog with and extra helping of some well aged bourbon.
I have been to two potlucks and brought bread and an onion marmalade to one (We had the marmelade and got the bread for free, it was an easy one on a day I babysat my grand son) For the next one I steamed up organic broccoli and cauliflower. I like bringing simple dishes to potlucks. Most people bring something fancy and it is nice to have a plain dish to accompany those.
For our own dinner we are having a rib roast, mashed potatoes, zucchini, carrots from the garden and I might make a pie of one kind or another.

We are preparing for a food bonanza over here! 1/4 of a smoked, cured leg ham, a whole duck, abalone, gingerbread cut out cookies (in Nerdy Christmas fashion, of course, so that means Ninjabread Men, Whovian shapes, and GingerDEAD Mean), eggnog ice cream (with Baileys), pumpkin pudding, cold drinks, salads, and more! XD

I am not giving up on my diet, but it will be taking a hiatus (it's the holidays dammit! I'm going to enjoy myself!)

What are your menu plans? :)